Governing with Uncertain Evidence: AI, Public Institutions, and the Contested Landscape of Decision-Making in South Africa
Panel Discussion | Hybrid
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Organized by:
Tayarisha Centre for Digital Governance
- In partnership with: CLEAR AA
About the Event
Participants will leave the session with a grounded account of how AI is changing evidence generation and use at two levels of the South African government, including what is working and what is not. They will gain an understanding of the governance gaps that open up when AI tools enter M&E systems faster than accountability frameworks can adapt. They will hear directly from a major technology company about how it understands its obligations to the public institutions adopting its infrastructure. Furthermore, they will have a clearer sense of the questions evaluators, programme managers, and oversight bodies should ask of any AI tool entering their evidence workflows. The session develops the concept of evaluative accountability for AI infrastructure, the idea that evaluation's role is not only to use AI tools responsibly but to subject those tools to the same standards of scrutiny applied to any other intervention.
Speakers
| Name | Title | Biography |
|---|---|---|
| Rekgotsofetse Chikane | Dr | Dr Rekgotsofetse Chikane is a Senior Lecturer at the Wits School of Governance and the Director of the Tayarisha Centre for Digital Governance. He is also a political commentator, activist and the author of Breaking a Rainbow, Building a Nation: The Politics behind the #MustFall Movements. He has most recently worked as a Research Associate at the Wits Institute for Socio-Economic Research and as Deputy Chairperson of the civil society movement, Defend our Democracy, amongst other civil society organisations and boards. His research focuses on Decolonial Thought, Digital Public Infrastructure, Development, Youth Politics, Complexity Economics, and South African Public Policy. |
| Andre Stelzner | Chief Digital Officer, City of Cape Town | André Stelzner graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Cape Town in 1986. He began his career as a municipal engineer before transitioning to the IT sector, driven by an interest to leveraging technology to transform public sector organisations. In 2002, André was one of the directors who led the implementation of the SAP-ERP system for the City of Cape Town. The project received international recognition in 2004, winning the Computerworld Honours 21st Century Achievement Award in Washington, D.C., as the most significant IT initiative in the Government and Non-Profit category. Appointed as Chief Information Officer in 2009, André applied his expertise in project and change management, along with his operational insight, to ensure that the City’s ICT systems effectively supported service delivery and enabled business transformation. In 2016, he accepted a role as IT Advisor to the Municipal Department of the Government of Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE. There, he led the modernisation of IT systems, focusing on automating the real estate value chain and advancing ease-of-doing-business initiatives in one of the region’s fastest-growing Emirates. He returned to Cape Town in August 2024 and currently serves as the City’s Chief Digital Officer. André remains committed to the transformative power of ICT in driving organisational success. |
| Sipho Mtombeni | Government Affairs and Public Policy Manager, Google South Africa | Sipho Mtombeni is the Government Affairs and Public Policy Manager at Google South Africa. In this role, he engages with the South African government on policy and legislative matters concerning artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, copyright, privacy, and online safety. Prior to joining Google he held a regulatory position at the Competition Commission of South Africa. Mr. Mtombeni holds an LLB (Law) Degree from the University of Pretoria and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). |
| Jerusha Govender | Director and consultant, Palmer Development Group (PDG) | Jerusha Govender is currently a Director and consultant at Palmer Development Group (PDG), leading the innovation practice. She has extensive experience as an entrepreneur and advisor in promoting responsible data practices, data communication, and the use of evidence for decision-making across Africa and globally. She has held leadership positions at Data Innovators as a Co-Founder, served on the board of the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association, and is currently on the board of Field Band Foundation. Jerusha has led data and M&E projects with government departments, NGOs, and foundations across the continent. At PDG, she is advancing the integration of responsible AI into monitoring, evaluation, and data systems, ensuring that emerging technologies are applied in ethical, transparent, and contextually appropriate ways. She is recognised as a thought leader in responsible data, tech-enabled MERL, innovation in evaluation practice, and the evolving role of AI in strengthening evidence generation and use. |
Moderators
| Name | Title | Biography |
|---|---|---|
| Rekgotsofetse Chikane | Dr | Dr Rekgotsofetse Chikane is a Senior Lecturer at the Wits School of Governance and the Director of the Tayarisha Centre for Digital Governance. He is also a political commentator, activist and the author of Breaking a Rainbow, Building a Nation: The Politics behind the #MustFall Movements. He has most recently worked as a Research Associate at the Wits Institute for Socio-Economic Research and as Deputy Chairperson of the civil society movement, Defend our Democracy, amongst other civil society organisations and boards. His research focuses on Decolonial Thought, Digital Public Infrastructure, Development, Youth Politics, Complexity Economics, and South African Public Policy. |